[rustyl]

I bottled an Irish Stout about two weeks ago and just tried one today. Terrible mouth feel. It's like water. It has good aroma and a decent flavor (maybe a little too alcohol-ish), but it's like drinking alcoholic, flavored water. What a disappointment. There's no way to save this beer, is there?

[majorvices]

How's the carbonation level? SG and FG? Care to share the recipe?

[rustyl]

I suppose a little more info would help... I'm new to homebrewing;I can only do extract with specialty grains right now, so this was a kit, Brewer's Best to be exact. I did everything I thought I was supposed to do. I steeped the grains at 150F, I was clean, I followed every step to the letter. I don't remember what the OG was. I wrote it down, but it got lost when I moved.The only thing that I didn't do was bottle it when I was supposed to. I let it sit in secondary for almost 6 months. I thought it was a lost cause when I finally bottled it so I didn't take the gravity then, but I pitched conditioning yeast at bottling time just to try it and the carbonation is fine. I'm so new to the process, I didn't expect it to work. But I was surprised with good aroma, carbonation, and flavor. It's just watery.

[In The Sand]

Should have a good mouthfeel according to the recipe. I suppose depending on how much top off water you added that could have something to do with it. Otherwise, as major was getting at, carbonation level can affect the mouthfeel. An undercarbonated beer can seem watery. You could try giving it a little more age. Not sure if there's a way to carbonate undercarbonated bottles since I only keg. Don't give up though. You will make great beer!

[majorvices]

Well, for one thing, it was ancient old. This beer should have been long gone at 6 months past fermentation. Most beers are meant to be consumed fresh. 6 months would be long in the tooth for even your average store shelf beer.

Fermentation temperature may also have something to do with it. Sometimes "hot" beers (too much fusels) take away from the more subtle mouth feel and make a beer seem "watery". You won't be able to pick up the subtle pleasant fermentation notes do to the overwhelming presence of hot alcohols. Not sure what the OG of that beer is but a lower gravity beer should not taste "boozy" or alcoholic and if you can taste the alcohol you probably fermented too warm.

[rustyl]

 Ok. I  thank you all for responding. I agree that it is way too old. I brewed it at my dad's and then moved on to another beer at home and just simply forgot about it.  It probably got too warm and is also undercarbonated. I  will let it age for a while longer,  since I've got nothing to lose and just chalk it up as a lesson learned.

[thirsty]

Try cooking with it.